From Broken Axles to 8-Second Passes

By 2018, the Mustang game had evolved, and so had we. Enter Project Goldmember, our 2018 Mustang GT. This was the first year of the updated S550 generation with direct injection and the new 10R80 10-speed automatic, and we were itching to see what it could do. Why Goldmember? Let's just say the personality was as bold as a gold bullion, and maybe we're big Austin Powers fans. Painted in a flashy hue and built to hustle, it blended daily-driver comfort with pure track ferocity. Jared liked to call it his 9-second grocery getter, emphasis on getter, because this thing got it done at the strip.

Out of the box, our 2018 GT made a respectable ~430 whp stock, but that was just a starting point. We added a Whipple Gen 5 3.0L supercharger and a corn-fed Lund Racing tune (E85, of course) and watched the power climb. On boost and bolt-ons, Goldmember went deep into the 10s, then cracked the 9s, a 9.79 at 144 was Jared's first 9-second run. But there was far more in it. Through 2019 we kept refining: a 10-rib supercharger pulley setup for more boost (up to ~18 psi), ID1300x injectors and our triple-pump fuel system, and a beefed-up drivetrain (gears, a Circle D converter, clutches, carbon fiber driveshaft). Every tweak brought more speed, from 9.7s into the low 9s, and by late 2019 we were close to the 8s.

In January 2020, on a cool Florida evening, it happened. Goldie ran an 8.64 at 157 with a brutal 1.27-second 60-foot. A full-weight 2018 GT, still on A/C and leather, became an 8-second street car. Goldmember's mod list was encyclopedic and uncompromising: Whipple supercharger, built trans, full return fuel system, drag suspension, sticky tires, the works. A car that could drive to the grocery store and then rip a single-digit ET before you could say "shaken, not stirred."